Dear Reader
 |
| Cape Town, South Africa |
I recently had the pleasure of visiting
Ethiopia and revisiting South Africa, the country of my birth. I had never been
to Ethiopia before and previous to that, heard many remarkable and wonderful
things about it. Now that I have been there, I can safely vouch that it is remarkable
country, rich in history, culture and tradition, with a delicious cuisine and
great coffee. Most importantly, I found Ethiopians to be peace loving, and a
warm and friendly people, and Ethiopia, a very safe place to be in. The lessons
I learnt about and in Ethiopia will remain with me for a lifetime and has added
to my development as a person, both personally and professionally. I am
grateful, therefore, in this short way, to share my experiences with you.
During January to April 2014, I conducted
field research at African Union in Addis Ababa and at the Pan-African
Parliament, an organ of the African Union in Midrand, South Africa. I chose to
conduct interviews at both organizations mainly because I believed that they
would better inform my insights on the legitimacy crisis currently
characterizing the relationship between the International Criminal Court (ICC)
and the African Union (AU), a topic on which my research is based. Some of the
arguments in favor of this position and also advocated for by the African Union
is that the Court is biased because all its prosecutions are against Africans.
The ICC, on the other hand, maintains that
as an institution set up to combat impunity, it is keeping to its mandate by
advocating for justice and victims needs in Africa, which remain inadequately
addressed by some African leaders. While many of these assertions may or may
not be true, there is a perception that the rift is widening between the Court
and its African constituency.
 |
| Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony |
To test this hypothesis, I decided that it
would be best if I spent some time on the ground at the African Union, to see
if this was indeed the case. The African Union is the spokesperson of African
States and its relationship with the Court, from my perspective, should be
explored more broadly than solely from a purely legal perspective, given the
context in which it operates, namely more from a political vantage point.
Similarly, the ICC, although established as a judicial institution and
acknowledging itself as such, nonetheless functions in a politically charged,
global environment. Taking these contexts into account, I have therefore decided
to approach my research from both a legal and social science perspective,
hoping to be better informed on the underlying issues, which needs uncovering.
The research methods I used during my
travels were thus qualitative in nature, comprising participant observation and
semi structured research interviews. Access to most respondents was secured through
the snowball technique, a technique, which surprisingly was easy to accomplish
at both institutions, where a very friendly and warm demeanor met me.
 |
| AU Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
My initial observations of the AU were impressive,
and the main thing that stood out, was the new AU headquarters, costing roughly
around 200 million dollars, considered a generous gift from the Chinese
government. This magnanimous gift from the Chinese symbolizes the extent of the
newfound friendship China and Africa share and serves as a precursor to future
investment and future relations between both countries. Aside from the
impressive AU architecture, the highlight of my stay was attending the 22nd
AU Summit in Addis, with this year’s theme, focusing on Agriculture and Food
Security In Africa. The discussions were stimulating ranging from conflict
prevention, climate control, illegal exploitation of resources, and increased agricultural
sustenance for the optimal development of a prosperous Africa in the coming
years.
In order, to tackle its core problem of
African disunity, the AU has focused strongly on African culture, heritage and
identity through the promotion of an ‘African Renaissance’ coined by the former
President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, an intellectual and influential player
within AU circles. The African Renaissance is aimed at fostering integration
amongst African States, by forging a common African identity and is of particular
relevance to the AU, because it contributes to strengthening the institution
vocally, so as to speak with one voice, on vital issues of concern to Africa.
Given its 54 member states, it is no easy task to mobilize and motivate States
to unite on pertinent issues of particular relevance, especially when each
State has its own political agenda and varied interests to take into account.
The AU, also, as an organization, focuses
on security, and uses the full range of diplomatic and coercive measures available
to it, to meet its mandate of fostering peace and security on the African
continent. Given the severity of conflicts currently taking place in South
Sudan, Mali and Central African Republic, peace concerns are pressing on the
continent, and it is important to note that development of the African
continent can only take place if conflicts are curbed and peace prevails. Peace,
in other words, engenders development and development economic and social
prosperity. It is therefore crucial for the AU to succeed in this part of its
mandate if it is to be considered a legitimate regional institution in Africa
and the world.
 |
| Peace and Security Meeting AU Summit |
These insights, I found are rather relevant
because they relate to current ICC prosecutions, which some say, have had a
destabilizing effect in certain regions in Africa, and impact larger concerns,
such as peace efforts in Africa. These
and more related issues are explored in deeper detail in my thesis. So, whilst
issues of AU and ICC discord go deeper than merely the ICC targeting Africa and
the “race hunting of Africans”, I am optimistic that there is ample room for
dialogue and improvement on this front. It is to this end that I am hoping that
my research will contribute, and represent a balanced view of the issues at
play, from the perspectives of both key players. I am grateful to report that a
new chapter awaits me at the ICC where I will undertake a Visiting
Professionals Programme for a period of three months, so as to be able to gauge
the ICC’s perspective on issues of concern between itself and the AU. I look
forward to report to you on my experiences at the Court, and the developments
of my research, at a later stage.
Yours
sincerely,
Ingrid Roestenburg Morgan
Posted By Ingrid Roestenburg Morgan (Extracted from School of Human Rights Research Newsletter Fall 2014 available online at http://www.schoolofhumanrights.org/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF_files/Newsletter_OZS_RvdM_Autumn_WEBSITE.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment